Custom 1/64 Sprint Car Project

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1967 'cuda

Dropped on Head as a Baby
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This last September I got an idea for making a Christmas present for a buddy of mine. I haven't kept in touch with Terry for years but we're still friends. I'd run into his cousin and while shooting the breeze with him, he told me he was going to have George Trosley (famed cartoonist from CARtoons magazine) make custom artwork of Terry's old Mustang racing against his old 'Cuda. I guess that idea stirred up my own desire to get Terry something unique.

Terry lives in Lincoln, Nebraska and has raced sprint cars for years. I thought maybe I'd make him a miniature version of one of his cars.

I've got tons of old die cast cars stored out at our farm. I went there and picked up a 1/64th scale RACING CHAMPIONS - Steve Kinser car to use as my starting point.
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I wanted to make my present to Terry look as though it was an official retail item. To do so I needed to disassemble the blister pack as carefully as possible so it wouldn't get ruined. These are pretty old so my main concern was not to break the brittle plastic. After getting them apart I had to find something to remove the adhesive that had held it together.
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The card stock backing didn't come out looking so good but I didn't care. - Worst case scenario, - I'd make a new one.
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I smoothed out the old backing as well as I could and used my printer to make a new
facing for it. RACING CHAMPIONS had used a number of different designs. Although this isn't quite an exact copy, it's close.
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I struggled with various computer programs as I tried to make images of his car that would print with an acceptable level of detail. - I'm not well versed in image manipulation software.

My next step was to print out a new 'driver's' card similar to the ones RACING CHAMPIONS included. - And a new nameplate for the front of the stand.
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This is the car I started with.
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And this is a picture of one of Terry's sprint cars.
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I didn't have good enough images (straight on) of all the body panels. Fortunately, Terry posted some new pics a few days ago on Facebook of his planned paint scheme for next year. It was just what I needed!
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It sounds as though that's close to his paint for the coming season but I suspect he'll eliminate the lage orange panels on the bottom.

This is the car after I re-detailed it out.
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And here it is back in the blister packaging.
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I hope he gets a kick out of getting it!
 
Wow !! That is so darn cool :thumbsup: Talent be with you sir, I think I will look into this and see what I can do myself now :thankyou: I was and my son is a Mod dirt racer and chassis builder. This is blowing my mind :thankyou::thankyou::thankyou:
 
Wow !! That is so darn cool :thumbsup: Talent be with you sir, I think I will look into this and see what I can do myself now :thankyou: I was and my son is a Mod dirt racer and chassis builder. This is blowing my mind :thankyou::thankyou::thankyou:

Thanks Mike. I don't think it would seem as cool if it wasn't sealed back in that blister packaging though. Even though the plastic is clear, it hides a lot of flaws. Hopefully Terry will feel a little like he's made it into 'the big times' with having his car reproduced in die cast. LOL.
 
I know my son would flip if I can find a car like his and do like you did on the stickers you made, thank you for sharing :thumbsup: I am going to show this thread to our coffee crew :popcorn:
 
I know my son would flip if I can find a car like his and do like you did on the stickers you made, thank you for sharing :thumbsup: I am going to show this thread to our coffee crew :popcorn:

Post up a pic of it. Maybe I'll know of a similar die-cast.
 
That is SO awesome.

I once did a 25th scale replica of a girl I wanted to date's 69 firebird, complete with her favorite CD on the seat and her custom front license plate of the Cult's Love album. all done on a copier in pre- home PC/color printer days.
 
That is SO awesome.

I once did a 25th scale replica of a girl I wanted to date's 69 firebird, complete with her favorite CD on the seat and her custom front license plate of the Cult's Love album. all done on a copier in pre- home PC/color printer days.

Did you make it for her? Did you give it to her? If so, what was her reaction? You said that you 'wanted to date' her. Does that mean that you got shot down in flames (the story of my life) or....?
 
Looking for anything close would be good ! my son Creed builds these chassis and bodies , he had 3 in the top five championship for 2016 :thumbsup:
I am a proud dad :thankyou:

Creeds car.jpg
 
Looking for anything close would be good ! my son Creed builds these chassis and bodies , he had 3 in the top five championship for 2016 :thumbsup:
I am a proud dad :thankyou:
Creeds car.jpg


It's hard to tell from seeing just the one picture but are any of these diecasts close?
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Hunting and was told a hobby shop has a Monty Carlo that will work, I am going to check it out today, I will keep you updated on my find :thumbsup:
 
Hunting and was told a hobby shop has a Monty Carlo that will work, I am going to check it out today, I will keep you updated on my find :thumbsup:

I'm not certain how you're planning on making the graphics but I'd recommend you use a digital camera to take photos of each of the body panels first.

Once you've got the diecast car in hand you should be able to measure each of the panels on it (doors, hood, trunk, etc...) and modify the pictures that you took so that they'll correspond with those dimensions. You may want to stretch and skew a few of them to get them to look right.

You can buy water slide decal paper for your printer but my experience with it was that it looks best when applied over a white background. The base color on your son's car is white already so it should be easy.

I opened up each picture that I used in a new paint program and modified them until I was satisfied. Then I combined them all onto one image file that I printed.

When I did make the printouts for that sprint car it took a number of attempts before I got it right. For some reason the dimensions from the printer weren't matching the dimensions my paint program were saved at. I ended up taking the dimensions off of my printed results and re-scaling them before I re-printed.

I tend to use a lot of aerosol paints. I'll spray them into the caps and let them sit for awhile until the paint gets to a consistency that flows well and doesn't run. Many of them are too thin to get decent coverage when they first are sprayed into the caps and will want to run. The solvents seem to dissipate quicker from some of the spray paints than regular brush-on paints so it speeds drying time a little.
 
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